Wow, you just blew my mind. That is my problem. I need to work on my producing mind.

THANK YOU!

Which is far better than the delusional Rob Bennett, your guest post, has managed to do in his life.

You’ve only solved it for yourself. Which is the only person you actually NEED to solve it for. But you haven’t solved it for everyone else out there who dreams of ditching their 9-5 as soon as possible.

The problem still exists for all of us who would be very unhappy living the rest of our lives as minimalists. We can learn from you, but we’ll never be able to be fellow travelers. For the rest of us, I suspect that the solution to early retirement requires combining some of your ideas with the standard PF fair and a good deal of entrepreneurship.

I worked a bunch during the 90s and rode the .com bubble well, then quit my job and became involved fulltime in grassroots political activism for issues that matter to me. I could move those causes forward to the degree that I did because I was passionate, dedicated, and didn’t have to worry about a job.

After 5 years of that, my finances had dwindled, though I had tuned my frugal nature so that I knew the difference between need and want. Each time I moved, I literally got rid of half of my “stuff” – by last spring, I was down to just a courier bag with a laptop, a passport, and some clothes. I needed to adapt further.

So, I’m back now working at a .com, making 6 figures and saving all but $400/month. In 2-3 years time (depending on the market), I’ll have enough saved up to live off the interest indefinitely.

I’ve never once wondered what I’ll do or how to keep myself occupied. There are countless important issues and causes that are dying (both literally and figuratively) for your help. We’re social beings, and what impacts my neighbor impacts me. Yes, there are lots of fun and cool things to do with your time when you’re ‘retired’, and you should do them – we all need to have some fun! But while the idea of sailing off into sunset has its escapist value, remember that your neighbors (near and far) need your help.

Outfitting a ocean-going cruising sailboat: $50k
Monthly cost of running said boat (two people): $700-1000 (if you’re not really going anywhere like the Bahamas or across the Pacific this becomes cheaper).

Income required to support this: $200-250k in investments (total) or a few sellable/nonspecialized skills.

I gave up on learning how to fly (cost of high octane fuel these days is >$5/gallon). On a boat, fishing comes free (as do the fish), you get to take pictures of whales and they might even sing. As for the concerts, I’ll probably learn to play a banjo or something.

First I need to learn to sail though. Anyone want to donate a dinghy with a sail kit?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljbI-363A2Q

In an email to my mom and uncle about the video, I wrote:

“The fact that there are 3000 new books every day means that there is so much info out there… there is no way we as humans can absorb it all any longer. Just like in the article from a few weeks ago (http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2008/01/better_than_fre.php), it means everything is more specialized. Everything is now catering to the niches now, instead of the masses. We’re starting to focus on working in the long tail of consumers.

Just think about all the different TV stations there are now, and you get the idea. Multiply that by 100,000 an that’s how many niche blogs are out there, receiving a healthy amount of traffic and business.

The development of the world, globalization, smart technology, instant and constant communication – it doesn’t scare me, it fascinates me. And I think it only serves to the more developed and intelligent individual, which means it caters to me.

That statistic of 10 to 14 jobs before the age of 38 is interesting – I’m on #4 if you count official employers, and #7 if you count my various side jobs/incomes. And I’m only 22!

We’re seeing the world shift, and it think it’s a positive change – no matter how much we can fear it because it is the unknown, we will get through it when it comes (just as they did with the industrial revolution, which scared everyone too).

I think that within my lifetime, college education will become an antiquated practice, or something that is much more geared toward specialized careers only (medicine, law, etc.) – already more of my friends didn’t go to college than did, and we’re all doing great, financially and emotionally. (Granted, most of my friends and I work in technology, so that has it’s limitations as an example.) The difficulties just aren’t there in the job world like they used to be (without a degree). And most people I know are out there doing work instead of working for an employer, which is impressive and a sign of what’s to come, in my opinion.

I think we’re starting to see a shift toward the old model – small business and close specialized service, like it used to be a hundred years ago. Even with mega-corporations all over the world, still something like 90% of the jobs in the US are in small businesses with less than 5 employees – that says something right there about how and where people are working, and where the strength of this country lies. I think we’ll only move more toward that direction as we go on. Already, I don’t have to advertise for my web design business. Word of mouth and my online presence alone generates enough work for me. I think that in my lifetime people will change gears more toward self-education and freelance work, and the world will begin to move along to a different beat.

It’s fun to think about.”

The video is set to be a little spooky, but I just think it’s cool. This article was a great refresher, and goes more toward the positive outlook I find:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/135380/page/1

The thing is, it isn’t even that painful. Including all forms of approved work leave I spend ~29% of my waking hours at work during my career from age 22-62. I will have 45 weeks a year that I have a 9-5 job until I’m 62, but that also means I will have a six figure income to fund 7 weeks of travel/holiday/vacation every year too.

It really can be possible to have a relatively high salary and still have a balanced life. I’ll be able to maximize my lifestyle without sacrificing my whole life to mindless work. The money will in turn fund travel and activities that fill the void you describe in your post.

ERE: I’d be happy to see your post frequency decline. I think it would convert into higher quality posts (and that’s not a complaint about your present posting quality).

As I now look toward my future and my goal of retirement at 35, I really have no clue what I’ll do. It makes me wonder what my real aims are. Are the hobbies that I’m dying to have time for really going to interest me in 13 years? Am I going to be bored out of my mind?

At this point, I just need to keep working and saving. Hopefully, when I time comes I’ll know just what to do. But I doubt it. For me, as it is for you, it will be a time of pondering.

But I think you’re on to something. I’ve have recently been toying with how to write a post myself on my blog called “The Underachiever’s Guide to Retiring Early” because I came to the conclusion (as you touch on here) that overachievers cannot be happy retiring young. They need to keep achieving to be happy. Achieving was never a drug for me, and I don’t need anymore “stuff”, so I am the perfect person to be totally, completely, blissfully happy retired. (In case you didn’t get the implication, I am an underachiever–my friends would disagree because I accumulated enough money for a retirement that isn’t totally consumed with penny-pinching–but I know the truth, I was simply average.)

It’s even hard to describe what I do all day–but I’m so busy that both my husband and I are always running late to get to the things that actually have times attached to them (classes, movies, concerts, dinner reservations, plans with friends). I have a stack of books and magazines I haven’t found time to get to. I take a couple classes, spend a lot of time writing, read others’ blogs, spend a fair amount of time on things I used to pay people to do (housework and gardening), and try to get in a workout every day.

I never manage to get it all done. But the great thing is–THERE’S ALWAYS TOMORROW!

Retired Syd (a retired underachiever)

This is an interesting dilemma.

Ideas:
– become a landlord. Fix up properties and rent them out.
– Travel. Costs a lot of money.
– Start woodworking
– Scrapbooking (just kidding).
– Bike across the US (or Europe, etc.)

One of the benefits we’ve enjoyed from being FI yet still working is that we can spend what we like supporting groups and pursuits that mean the most to us. And we continue to live very modestly relative to our colleagues, though not having kids makes this easier.

So I look forward to what you might have to say about this topic even if you are posting less. Most PF blogs are boring to me, but your extremeness is refreshing, and a good reminder to myself of what is essential.